 Welcome to the first of the MRI Newsletter's three public issues for 2005. For this issue we throw the doors open wide and make all of the feature articles available to all of our readers. To any of you who remain non-subscribers, we encourage you to subscribe because the next public issue won't happen again until August.This month we're offering a particular focus on safety issues and the influence that the design and construction of your suite have. In our lead article, "Safety vs. The Bottom Line," we debunk the myth that safety planning costs facilities more than it pays.
In addition to the featured articles, we are also pleased to announce that the full archive of articles from previous issues of the newsletter is now available online (see the 'News Bite' below). If there's an article you would like to re-read or a topic you want to investigate, please browse the archive. The archive will be updated three times annually, coinciding with our public issues. As always, if you don't find what you're looking for, don't hesitate to contact us.
Lastly, this public issue also marks the point at which we pro-rate the subscription for the remainder of 2005. For those of you still toying with the idea of subscribing, today the cost of your subscription just dropped 25% to only $60 for the rest of 2005. Think of that in terms of the potential value of several of our articles from this year...
- If our article on construction quality's impact on image quality leads to one fewer re-scan, how much has that saved you?
- If our article on infection control for interventional MRI prevents one staph infection, what is that worth?
- If our article on construction planning allows your MRI to remain operational for one day when construction activities would have otherwise shut it down, how much revenue does that represent?
When you look at it that way, this newsletter is one of the best values anywhere!
Tobias Gilk
Junk Architects, PC
Invite Your Friends & Colleagues.
We are always pleased to share the newsletter with your friends. If you would like to invite a colleague to receive the complimentary version of the MRI Newsletter, please let us know and we will extend an invitation to them on your behalf.
Click here to refer a friend
Favorite MRI Suite Safety Websites
As this issue is dedicated to MRI suite safety, we'd like to share with you a couple of websites that reinforce the value of safety in the MRI suite.
The MRI Technologists Safety Forum
(free registration required)
MRI-Education.com/mritechforum/
Simply Physics - Flying Objects
www.SimplyPhysics.com/flying_objects.html
MRI Newsletter - Article Archive Is Now On Line!
We're pleased to announce that we have the archive of all previous MRI Newsletter articles available. Click here to see all the articles that are available.
While the archive index is available to everyone, only subscribers will be able to access the full text of the articles.
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Safety vs. The Bottom Line:
Why Safety Pays
By Robert Junk, AIA and Tobias Gilk
To parody a long-running commercial… New MR-Safe Wheelchair, $2,000. MRI Suite Safety Audit, $10,000. Knowing that your suite has been made as safe as it can be, priceless!
Those of us in the business of MR safety don’t count on the field making us rich. We do this, in part, because we believe that this is the right thing to do. It gives us a warm and fuzzy feeling about the value of our work. Perhaps the part that gets the least attention is that, by adding safety, we enhance the financial performance of our clients!
Click here to be taken to the full article.
4-Zones:
Implementing the ACR 4-Zone Principle.
By Tobias Gilk
“Four zones! I barely have four rooms!” So goes the lament of many diagnostic imaging facilities. Sadly, this is even true for many designed after the American College of Radiology’s White Paper on MR Safety was published.
Hospital space tends to be at such a premium, both in terms of cost and scarcity, that no department is immune from pressures to squeeze out every possible square foot. Many real-world MRI suites are only scale models of what they ought to be, every function corseted far too tightly to function efficiently. Scanners shoe-horned into walk-in closets, waiting rooms where patients pack in like sardines, patients and staff crashing into each other… any of this sound familiar?
Click here to be taken to the full article.
MR-Safe vs. Non-Ferromagnetic
By Tobias Gilk
As someone who’s luggage has apparently become a favorite pastime with airport security screeners (you try getting through airport security with forty pounds of magnets in your carry-on), I have a new appreciation for metal detectors and the people who operate them. However unusual it may be, my box of magnets and assortment of non-ferrous equipment - while they may pique the curiosity of the baggage screeners - aren’t a threat to aviation safety. Apply this to MRI, we have developed an entire classification designating objects as ‘safe’ though, like my box of magnets to the baggage screening device, most MR-Safe objects will light up metal detectors like a Christmas tree.
Click here to be taken to the full article.
Articles In The Works In the coming months we will be sharing articles with you on a number of topics, from tools that are immediately applicable, to strategies that will help your facility on into the future. Several planned upcoming articles include:
- D.I. In The O.R.: Intraoperative Imaging
- The Shocking Truth About Static Electricity
- 'Bad Vibrations' - MRI Vibration Isolation
- Square Pegs - Round Holes: Retrofitting An MRI
- Hitting The Ceiling Over HIPAA-Required Walls
We Love Hearing From You!
Feel free to contact us with any questions or comments on the articles or issues you'd like to see covered.
Junk Architects, PC
802 Broadway - 5th Floor
Kansas City, MO 64105
816-472-7722
MR_Expert@JunkArchitects.com
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